Tips and Tricks

Parents are always asking us how to monitor the safety of their kids online. Combine that with social media, and it can be really overwhelming for parents to know how to educate their kids while still keeping track of their activity. And…

Let's be honest, the best photos of kids are never the perfect ones. They're not necessarily the photos that required hours of prep time picking out a perfect outfit, or a six-lollipop bribe for a smile. Looking back at our own favorite …

With warmer climes finally here and April right around the corner, it's time for my annual spring cleaning to begin. At the top of my list is my home office area. If you've got piles of papers and cords everywhere like me, then I've got …

When I shared 8 ways I use my smartphone camera to make my life easier awhile back, I had no idea how much it would resonate with other parents! But I get it -- anything to preserve a few extra brain cells, right? So, we've expanded this…

If your family is anything like mine, a vacation means loading up all the tech gadgets to keep the troops entertained for the long trip ahead. With spring break right around the corner, and summer vacation on the horizon, here are 6 simp…

A couple of weeks ago, our friend Heather from the Rookie Moms discovered that her babysitter had been taking photos of her kids on SnapChat and she asked her Facebook friends what they would do about this. Now before you freak about sex…

For those of us who use multiple Instagram accounts -- say you have a personal and a business account, or maybe you have access to your teen's account -- it's been a gift from heaven this week that at last, as with Facebook and Twitter, …

While we laud the continual stream of gadgets that provide us with smart appliances for smarter homes, it gives pause for thought on how all of these connected devices are interacting with each other, what they're accessing, and most imp…

I'd been considering cutting the cable cord for about a year before I actually took the plunge. My kids and I rarely ever watch cable, and pretty much never use the landline (I don't think I ever actually learned that phone number!), so …

It's always fun for us to look back at the end of the year and see which posts captured our readers' interests and imaginations the most. And while we have some perennial favorites like our picks for 30 of the coolest iPhone 6 cases or h…

Just when you think you know everything there is about your iPhone, here comes a new tip for turning on the LED flash alert that I think will help a whole lot of people. You know how sometimes you'll miss a call, text or important notifi…

We're continuing our series about kids and cell phones on behalf of our sponsor, the premium authorized Verizon retailer, Cellular Sales , because wow, do parents need help with this! And by parents, we mean, ourselves too! Because we kn…

One of the most frequent questions we're asked at Cool Mom Tech is at what age we think kids are ready to get their first cell phones. And, well, the short answer is... it depends. Unfortunately, it's not an easy fill in a number here an…

As we watched the events in Paris unfold on the news last night, we were shocked and horrified, and immediately wondering what we could do. We're feeling especially thankful for technology and social media today, which has made us feel a…

H i Cool Mom Tech, Have you written about a tech solution that gathers photos from all the family computers and phones into one place for backup purposes? - James We've been exactly where you are, James: looking at all the options and sc…

There are two things folks typically say when you tell them that you work from home. The first is: You’re so lucky. You get to be in your pajamas all day and wake up whenever you want! Uh, sure. And the second is something along the line…

For so many of us, Facebook is like a having your own personal time machine and their On This Day feature can definitely make for a fun throwback, plus let you re-share those important digital memories. But there's a flip side to skippin…

Like most busy working parents out there, I pretty much unboxed my new iPhone 6S and started using it like I did with my iPhone 5S. In other words, I was texting and calling and really not spending a ton of time getting to know about all…

Calling all you ghosts, pirates, zombies, superheroes, and that small army of Queen Elsas -- it's time for your closeup. Because one of the best parts of Halloween for us, besides stealing our kids' fun-size Snickers, is getting photos o…

It seems the whole National Do Not Call Registry isn't always effective. Legit marketers have a lot of loopholes; charities, pollsters, political fundraisers and others are exempt; and then there are those shady marketers who simply don'…

Notice a little lightning bolt icon at the top of your Twitter feed? No, it's not a Halloween month tribute to Harry Potter. In an attempt to lure some new folks back to Twitter -- evidently 316mm monthly users isn't enough for some inve…

My daughter is turning 6 and I'd like to get her a camera. We gave her an old Canon point-and-shoot for Christmas and she is so responsible with it - she's ready for a new one of her own. I love the Fujifilm Instax Mini (especially Hello…

There's that wonderful moment when you first open up the box of your newest gadget and just smile at it. Some folks even give the new, shiny, and often pricy tech toy its own special name. At no point during this grand unboxing do you en…

For well over a decade, people have been talking -- or more like yelling -- about being hamstrung by cable companies. Some had-it-up-to-here folks have started cutting the cable cord and looking for more manageable, customized ways of wa…